Motivated by the need to generate alternative therapeutic avenues to treat cardiovascular diseases, my research interests involve the development of vascularization strategies in combination with human stem cells for regenerative medicine and the generation of vascularized human tissue mimics as surrogate human tissues for cell biology studies and drug screening purposes. We are also interested in understanding the nature and mechanistic basis of vessel maturation during adult neovascularization, in the coupled development of cardiomyocytes and vasculature and in promoting human stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte maturation through biomimetic approaches. Our long-term goal is to provide the basis for the development of innovative tools for regenerative medicine. Strategies include: transgenic animal models, stem cells, cell culture and bioengineering approaches.